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The goal for the 24-hour period, which started at midnight on Wednesday? $2.5 million — 1 percent of Purdue’s total fiscal year goal.

Purdue officials hope to over the next few years grow the pool of private gifts by 50 percent, stepping up the game to raise $300 million per year.

Throughout the 24 hour-period, Purdue’s social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were dominated with #PurdueDayofGiving posts, highlighting professors, opportunities and other Purdue traditions.

The $7.5 million far surpassed the goal for the 24-hour period, which was 2,500 donors giving a total of $2.5 million, or 1 percent of Purdue’s total fiscal year goal.

That the official announcement came on Twitter seemed appropriate. The campus was aflutter Wednesday with a 24-hour digital and social media frenzy on the West Lafayette campus aimed at raising money for the research institution.

#PurdueDayofGiving was trending in Greater Lafayette on Twitter as more than 40 academic and nonacademic units competed to raise the most on the inaugural day devoted to fundraising, which development officials hope will grow the base of regular donors.

Since the 2007-09 recession, charitable giving levels have bounced back, but the number of donors has dropped. Most of Purdue’s private gifts come from an elite few. Wednesday’s “grassroots” event, modeled on endeavors at other universities, was an attempt to reverse that trend.

“This has created a lot of excitement, a lot of collegiality and a lot of energy,” said Amy Noah, vice president of development for the new Purdue Research Foundation University Development Office. “There’s been a special kind of momentum on campus around this that we couldn’t have anticipated.”

On Thursday Noah called the Day of Giving a “tremendous success,” with $7.5 million raised from 6,500 donations.

Nearly $1 million will go to the President’s Student Affordability and Accessibility Fund, she said.

A room was set up on the second floor of Dauch Alumni Center, with fundraising and marketing gurus monitoring social media, answering calls from donors and navigating the day’s full schedule of events, which included TV segments on the Big Ten Network.

“I think about 5 a.m. is when it’s going to start to pick up full stride,” Noah predicted on Tuesday, dressed casually as she geared up for a long night.

Lisa Tally, a communications associate for the development office, predicted the overnight hours would be dominated by young students and the international crowd.

Why build a social media-based campaign?

Direct mail and telephone banks just don’t cut it anymore. As more people ditch their landlines for cellphones — especially the younger generation — it’s getting hard to reach people.

And receiving a postcard in the mail is not an inviting or engaging way to give, said Amber Turner, assistant director of annual giving.

Throughout the 24 hour-period, Purdue’s social media feeds on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram were dominated with #PurdueDayofGiving posts, highlighting professors, opportunities and traditions.

“We are putting out inspirational stories,” Turner said. “Making sure you know your gift is being used in a great way and definitely touching the lives of the students that are on campus.”

Social media also allows for easier and faster replies, Turner said.

“We’re bridging that gap and making sure donors feel part of the family. This provides that platform that the person feels heard.”

Facebook followers were bombarded with activity as development officials announced contest winners — “Congrats to Purdue Engineering -- you won an extra $5k for the College of Engineering!” — and live-stream events.

Not everyone was excited. One social media user coined the term “Purdue Day of Spamming.”

But the push was successful.

Purdue raised more than $5.7 million by 6 p.m. from more than 4,800 donors.

“Today has been a day that makes the entire Boilermaker family feel proud — the response to the Purdue Day of Giving effort has been completely overwhelming,” Noah said Wednesday evening.

‘Grow the pool’

Purdue has consistently over the past decade raised at least $200 million in private gifts each year, but ramping up that figure has become increasingly important as state funding levels remain uncertain.

Purdue expects to raise about $230 million in private gifts this year, Noah said. Last year the university raised $219 million.

“We are having a really good year,” said Noah, who leads the development office that on Jan.1 underwent a significant organizational change when it moved to the Purdue Research Foundation. “We tend to focus on raising a million a day, $5 million a week, $20 million a month. “We’re not going to get to $300 million with a steady state of donors. We need to grow the pool.”

Noah says every gift counts, and that’s not just a sales pitch. It’s a survival plan. She said big, flashy multimillion dollar gifts create a lot of excitement but are extremely hard to plan around.

Developing a consistent base of donors who might increase their gifts over time is the long-term plan, she said. t

“I would much rather have someone who has given for 20 years rather than someone who makes that large gift or isn’t necessarily engaged,” Noah said. “It’s very hard to predict when you’re going to get a large gift.”

The minimum amount to donate on the Purdue Day of Giving was $10. Depending on which fund someone donated to, the gift was matched.

Big, expensive moves

Daniels created a lot of buzz at the beginning of the academic year by announcing a series of 10 big “moves” — initiatives meant to enhance the quality of the educational experience and further carve out Purdue’s niche in science, technology, engineering and math.

Noah said that has been helpful from a fundraising standpoint, as donors like to feel as though they’re contributing to something specific, or something that resonates with their personal experience.

Throughout the Day of Giving, some initiatives were highlighted on webinars broadcast throughout the world.

But the Purdue Moves are also expensive.

The private giving goal for Purdue Moves alone is $296 million, according to a presentation Noah gave to university trustees in early April. So far about $126 million has been raised or solicited, mostly in the areas of engineering, scholarships and plant sciences.

Officials hope to raise $150 million for the expansion in engineering, $12.5 million for the transformation of the College of Technology, $14 million for investment into computer science, $40 million for investment into drug discovery and $15 million for plant sciences.

Other goals are to raise $16 million to construct the Active Learning Center and support new forms of learning, $3 million annually for study abroad, $20 million in on-campus living initiatives and $16 million annually in scholarships.

Purdue is hoping to announce larger gifts over the next couple of months that will support the Purdue Moves initiatives.

“Once the president launched the initiatives, we’ve really started to get some energy and excitement behind them,” Noah said. ”

Noah said Daniels’ message to external stakeholders about affordability and accessibility has resonated. Purdue has doubled in the last year the amount it has raised for student support, and anticipates it will close out the fiscal year on June 30 with between $47 million and $50 million in student support from gifts.

“That’s clearly a response to how people are reacting to the president’s message about affordability and making a college education accessible to all,” Noah said.